Picturing that which is not
This will be a post about Norwegian fairytales. There will be pictures, but there will be little to no trolls. I’m not that fond of trolls. I am on the other hand fond of fairytale illustrations - and how they deal with the problem of painting the supernatural, that which they have never seen and can only have imagined.
The fairytale illustrations, or sci-fi/fantasy for that matter, seem to work best when they capture a mood, a sense of presence, rather than elaborating details and striving for a realistic look. Maybe because they then allow the viewer to partake in the imagining - to be part of the storytelling process? If a picture is too elaborate, too detailed nothing is left to the imagination. And fairytales, legends, myths - and sci-fi/fantasy - depends greatly on the viewers’ imagination. More so I would say than fiction based in the real world - where references can be anchored in more tangible things than “imagine a hag in a dark, dark wood”.
These pictures generate mood by using nature, and more precisely nearly empty landscapes. When I watch them I feel like a lonely traveller, getting a glimpse of that which is normally hidden. I love these pictures, in the way you love things you have grown up with - a sort of irrational, nostalgic love. Ergo I’d like to share them. This post is also to the sweet alexandral who expressed a wish to see the pictures.
The paintings are all made by Theodor Kittelsen (1851-1914), a Norwegian painter. He spent his whole life illustrating fairytales and legends. His possibly best work was a series of paintings depicting the Black Death. There’s a small post on them here.
This is Noekken. He is not a troll as such - but a water spirit. He lives on the bottom of deep forest pools and he drowns people. In some of the folksongs he is linked with the devil in a strange sort of partnership.
My favourite fairytale tells of the White-bear King Valemon. It’s based on the Eros and Psyche story, where Valemon is turned into a bear and the princess must save him. She does this by fighting hags, climbing steep mountain walls wearing iron claws and being all around kickass. She looks a little meek in this picture though - but this is the start of the story. The wreath she is holding symbolizes her virginity, but the red dress shows she isn’t as innocent as she seems - and this is what saves the day in the end.
“Askeladden” or the Ash-lad, he is just a poor boy and his story…is very often told. He is the main character in a lot of the Norwegian fairytales. He is a trickster character who wins the day by being smarter than his opponents, or by simply daring to ask the question "why?". It also helps that he has the habit being kind to old women who turn out to be wood witches. In this picture he is on a quest to find a gold castle - that lies east of the sun, west of the moon - further than far, beyond where the mountains are blue.
This is from the story “The twelve wild-ducks”. It tells of a queen who desperately wants a daughter, and so she makes a deal with a witch. She will get her daughter, if the witch gets the queens twelve sons. The queen agrees - and the sons get’s turned into wild-ducks. The sister grows up and finds out about her brothers, and decides to save them - and she can only do so by making them clothes out of bog-down. So this is her, picking bog-down.
The kings in Norwegian fairytales doesn’t live in castles, they live on large farms. This is one of them - and if anyone is thinking Rohan! Edoras! Well…yes. Watching Two Towers in Norwegian cinemas was...an experience. They use the Harding fiddle (our national instrument) and a lot of the woodcarving was based on stave churches. During a emotional scene with Theoden a person shouted out: “hey! It looks Norwegian!” and a lot of people nodded and clapped. *facepalms* We are a people that are easily amused.
This picture is called Winter’s Night. It’s not part of a fairytale - I just love it.
One thing that strikes me about these images is the presence of nature. This picture is called “Rustling and bustling”, and it’s eerily correct in depicting the mood of the old pine forests.
Okay, there will be one troll. Because this one is rather cool.
I must give a huge thanks to jorun who scanned a lot of these pictures.
(geekery in norwegian: Det slår meg at det er utrolig mye natur i disse bildene. Jeg har egentlig ikke registrert naturen før. Det har bare vært Kittelsen bilder, men naturen gjennomsyrer jo alt! Kan dette sees som en nordisk greie? jeg tror det.)
The fairytale illustrations, or sci-fi/fantasy for that matter, seem to work best when they capture a mood, a sense of presence, rather than elaborating details and striving for a realistic look. Maybe because they then allow the viewer to partake in the imagining - to be part of the storytelling process? If a picture is too elaborate, too detailed nothing is left to the imagination. And fairytales, legends, myths - and sci-fi/fantasy - depends greatly on the viewers’ imagination. More so I would say than fiction based in the real world - where references can be anchored in more tangible things than “imagine a hag in a dark, dark wood”.
These pictures generate mood by using nature, and more precisely nearly empty landscapes. When I watch them I feel like a lonely traveller, getting a glimpse of that which is normally hidden. I love these pictures, in the way you love things you have grown up with - a sort of irrational, nostalgic love. Ergo I’d like to share them. This post is also to the sweet alexandral who expressed a wish to see the pictures.
The paintings are all made by Theodor Kittelsen (1851-1914), a Norwegian painter. He spent his whole life illustrating fairytales and legends. His possibly best work was a series of paintings depicting the Black Death. There’s a small post on them here.
This is Noekken. He is not a troll as such - but a water spirit. He lives on the bottom of deep forest pools and he drowns people. In some of the folksongs he is linked with the devil in a strange sort of partnership.
My favourite fairytale tells of the White-bear King Valemon. It’s based on the Eros and Psyche story, where Valemon is turned into a bear and the princess must save him. She does this by fighting hags, climbing steep mountain walls wearing iron claws and being all around kickass. She looks a little meek in this picture though - but this is the start of the story. The wreath she is holding symbolizes her virginity, but the red dress shows she isn’t as innocent as she seems - and this is what saves the day in the end.
“Askeladden” or the Ash-lad, he is just a poor boy and his story…is very often told. He is the main character in a lot of the Norwegian fairytales. He is a trickster character who wins the day by being smarter than his opponents, or by simply daring to ask the question "why?". It also helps that he has the habit being kind to old women who turn out to be wood witches. In this picture he is on a quest to find a gold castle - that lies east of the sun, west of the moon - further than far, beyond where the mountains are blue.
This is from the story “The twelve wild-ducks”. It tells of a queen who desperately wants a daughter, and so she makes a deal with a witch. She will get her daughter, if the witch gets the queens twelve sons. The queen agrees - and the sons get’s turned into wild-ducks. The sister grows up and finds out about her brothers, and decides to save them - and she can only do so by making them clothes out of bog-down. So this is her, picking bog-down.
The kings in Norwegian fairytales doesn’t live in castles, they live on large farms. This is one of them - and if anyone is thinking Rohan! Edoras! Well…yes. Watching Two Towers in Norwegian cinemas was...an experience. They use the Harding fiddle (our national instrument) and a lot of the woodcarving was based on stave churches. During a emotional scene with Theoden a person shouted out: “hey! It looks Norwegian!” and a lot of people nodded and clapped. *facepalms* We are a people that are easily amused.
This picture is called Winter’s Night. It’s not part of a fairytale - I just love it.
One thing that strikes me about these images is the presence of nature. This picture is called “Rustling and bustling”, and it’s eerily correct in depicting the mood of the old pine forests.
Okay, there will be one troll. Because this one is rather cool.
I must give a huge thanks to jorun who scanned a lot of these pictures.
(geekery in norwegian: Det slår meg at det er utrolig mye natur i disse bildene. Jeg har egentlig ikke registrert naturen før. Det har bare vært Kittelsen bilder, men naturen gjennomsyrer jo alt! Kan dette sees som en nordisk greie? jeg tror det.)